If you have a Samsung Galaxy phone that takes Dual Capture photos while in Portrait mode like the Samsung S10+ then you might have run into some trouble trying to extract the embedded depth map from the photo. Many online tools designed to extract depth maps fail to recognize the hidden depth metadata of these images because they were originally developed for the Google Camera app called Lens Blur. This leads them to incorrectly assume the photos are flat. The screenshot below shows an example where no depth data was found using a popular app.
While web-based image editors are also convenient, they may not always recognize depth maps as a separate layer, let alone provide the ability to view it. The screenshot below shows that same Portrait-mode image file where no depth data was found.
Using ExifTool (Version 12.30 or newer) to Extract Depth Maps
Don’t worry, there’s a solution! You can use the free software called ExifTool to extract the depth map yourself. ExifTool, a versatile command-line tool, is ideal for extracting and manipulating metadata from various image file formats. An update to ExifTool was released in August 2021 to decode DepthMapTiff from JPEG images of more Samsung models.
Here’s a basic guide to get you started:
1. Download ExifTool: You can download it for free from https://exiftool.org/.
2. Install ExifTool: Follow the installation instructions for your operating system.
3. Open a command prompt or terminal: The exact steps may vary depending on your operating system. To open the Command Prompt (CMD) in Windows, you can use the keyboard shortcut “Windows key + R” to open the Run dialog box, then type “cmd” and click OK.
4. Navigate to your directory: Use the cd command to change to the directory containing your photo. In the following example, the file path “C:\Users\Realistec\Pictures” refers to a directory (or folder) on a Windows computer. Here’s a breakdown of its components:
- C: This is the drive letter of the primary hard drive on the computer.
- Users: This is a folder that typically contains subfolders for individual user accounts on the computer.
- Realistec: This is the name of a specific user account on the computer.
- Pictures: This is a subfolder within the user’s account that is typically used to store images and photos.
Therefore, the full path “C:\Users\Realistec\Pictures” points to the “Pictures” folder within the “Realistec” user account on the primary hard drive (C drive) of the computer.
Example: cd C:\Users\Realistec\Pictures
5. Run ExifTool: Start by using the following command to generate an output (*.txt) file with detailed metadata information:
exiftool -a -u -g1 -w txt myphoto.jpg
- Remember to replace “exiftool” with the entire file path to your installation.
- Also, remember to replace myphoto.jpg with the actual filename of your photo.
- The text file will be saved as myphoto.txt
Example: C:\Users\Realistec\Desktop\exiftool-12.97_64\exiftool -a -u -g1 -w txt 20240901_113727.jpg
6. Open the newly created sidecar text file: This file provides important metadata, including Image Size, Megapixels, and Depth Map details.
7. Check for the ‘Depth Map Tiff’ Metadata Tag: If the file contains this specific metatag, as shown below, proceed to the next step.
8. Extract the Depth Map: Use the following command to extract the depth map image, which is identified by the ‘-DepthMapTiff’ Composite Tag:
exiftool -b -DepthMapTiff myphoto.jpg > myphoto_depth.jpg
- Again, remember to replace “exiftool” with the entire file path to your installation, and replace “myphoto.jpg” with the actual filename.
- Add “depth” to the second filename.
- The hidden depth map image will be extracted and saved as myphoto_depth.jpg
Example: C:\Users\Realistec\Desktop\exiftool-12.97_64\exiftool -b -DepthMapTiff 20240901_113727.jpg > 20240901_113727_depth.jpg
9. Extract the Embedded Image: Copy the last command by pressing the up arrow key. Then, replace “-DepthMapTiff” with “-EmbeddedImage” by pressing the left arrow key and backspace to delete. You will also need to replace “_right” with “_image” to create a new file. The command will look like this:
exiftool -b -EmbeddedImage myphoto.jpg > myphoto_image.jpg
Example: C:\Users\Realistec\Desktop\exiftool-12.97_64\exiftool -b -EmbeddedImage 20240901_113727.jpg > 20240901_113727_image.jpg
That’s it! If done correctly, you should have the original photo, a depth map, an unfiltered image, and a metadata text file.
Now that you have your depth map, you can use it for a variety of applications, from creating depth-of-field effects to generating creative assets like perspective-shifted animated GIFs and videos.